GOVERNMENT CAN DO MORE TO CREATE WEALTH FOR ITS PEOPLE
By: Akeny Emmanuel
Government is the biggest beneficiary when its citizens get out of poverty and become wealthy. Apart from the usual headache of where to borrow money so as to address the never ending needs of a society that is increasingly getting dependant on government, it would have surplus resources to reinvest in the populace and to pursue other advanced aspirations like space and nuclear technology.
It would therefore seem a no-brainer that government would have the greatest interest and pursue the most prudent avenues to get its people out of poverty. The evidence however is not that strong. Government has had so many interventions with the latest being NAADS, OWC, Emyooga, Youth Livelihood Program (YLP), Uganda Women Empowerment Programme (UWEP) and currently ongoing is the much vaunted Parish Development Model (PDM). Based on National Household Surveys reports, poverty levels is reported to have fallen from 56% in 1992/1993 to 20.3% in 2019/2020 (UBOS, 2022). This reduction is purely income poverty levels.
However, when viewed from a broader perspective of poverty, the level of multidimensional poverty in Uganda is at 42.1% (UBOS; 2022). That’s almost half of the population is multi-dimensionally poor. And this is a better indicator because Uganda together with many countries are working to attain the SDGs of which Goal 1 is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030 – that’s 8 years from now!
That’s a huge but not altogether impossible task. And it is in the interest of government that they clinically and methodically respond to this. The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development should take a lead here not only by macro and micro-economic initiatives but by investing in the area of personal finance. This is where wealth creation starts. If a large number of Ugandans got out of poverty into wealth, then the macro and micro-economic interventions would make significant meaning. Ideally, government should play two functions in wealth creation.
There is the broader function of creating a conducive environment for enterprise growth and prosperity which includes a stable and peaceful political environment, infrastructure development, sound monetary and fiscal policies, an enabling environment for doing business etc. On these, the government’s report card is impressive – given the circumstances. But it can be seen by all that these on their own do not necessarily translate into a lot of wealth in the hands of ordinary Ugandans.
The second function has to do with the economic empowerment of individuals and individual businesses to do better business and generate wealth. It is universally accepted that Uganda is a country gifted by nature – the Pearl of Africa, yet many Ugandans are daily walking poor, hungry and bedraggled on top of the Pearl! The opportunity to create wealth is apparent everywhere but year in year out, a large percentage of Ugandans wallow in abject poverty.
This is because wealth creation is both a physical and mental process. It is only when something changes in the mind of the individual that it will affect how they look at money and how much time they devote to their work. Rather than view money as a consumable, they will see it as the seed of wealth – the reward for their effort, creativity, worth, knowledge and skills translated into paper form. It will change how they use the money but most importantly how they multiply it in ever increasing amounts.
Wealth creation is therefore more of a science with clear principles of work, productivity, ability to delay gratification, how to invest and a money conscious attitude which must be followed closely. And there is no shortcut. Some people learn it on their own. A large majority never learn and continually misuse the financial resources that come into their hands. It is not a surprise that people who earn or make large sums of money do not necessarily translate them into wealth. The good thing is that this can be taught and learnt. This together with other enablers is what I call the game changing function for government in wealth creation.
This is where government ought to invest its prime energy and resources. Simply getting money or agricultural inputs and throwing it at a population that has not done business before or do not have the required training in their desired agricultural enterprise is not good investment. This would appear like an unintended trap to have the targeted beneficiaries imprisoned or eventually put on the run. People need to be trained – and that intensively. People need to be prepared. Just like businesses, they need to be made investment ready before you can invest hard earned tax payer’s money on them.
TO BE CONTINUED….
The writer is an author, entrepreneur, motivational and financial literacy speaker.
For contacts, response, queries or discussions, reach the author on. email: emka2010@gmail.com or follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Book author #From Zero Money to Wealth#.
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